Wrongful Dismissal Claims

The first thing an employee should realize is that wrongful dismissal is not the same thing as unfair dismissal. Wrongful dismissal refers to a direct breach in an employment contract. What this means is that the employer has broken the rules set forth by the employment contract signed and agreed upon by both parties.

To be more specific, a breach in the contract can mean many different things. One example of a wrongful dismissal is if the employer fires an employee too quickly. Many workers have clauses which allow them two weeks or two months notice before having to leave work. Firing someone immediately can result in a wrongful dismissal claim from the employee. This is the most common case of wrongful dismissal in the United Kingdom. To sum up, if the employer breaks any agreement in the contract of employment, a person has the right to file this claim.

Before a person goes out and files his or her claim immediately, however, it is important to realize there are cases where the employee will not qualify for the wrongful dismissal damages. If the employee has behaved inappropriately, or broken the contract themselves first, the employer is justified in the firing. For instance, if a person were to steal computers from his employer, he would not be able to claim wrongful dismissal if he were fired without proper notice. If an employee gets paid for the weeks he or she should have still been working under the notice agreement there is no wrongful dismissal case either. In other words if an employer was supposed to give a two months warning before firing an employee, he can choose to give them immediate notice and simply pay them for the duration of the two months.

Other than that, anyone who still feels that they have been wrongfully terminated should take their case to the tribunal. It is important to file this claim within three months of the firing, or the employee may not have a chance to take this claim up with the tribunal at all.

There are a couple of different factors an employee can be compensated for once he takes a claim to the tribunal. The first and most obvious amount that can be awarded is lost pay and benefits. Benefits can include anything from being able to drive the company car to use a company laptop. Some employees can also file claims that they would have received bonuses from working longer with the company. While these damages are hard to receive, many employees choose to file the claim nonetheless. It is important to note that the tribunal does take factors like the pay of a new job that may have been taken by a fired employee and the amount of the unfair dismissal into factor when determining the amount of damages to award an employee. More money from wrongful dismissal means less from unfair dismissal, so an employee would be smart to calculate which would net them the most in damages.

Wrongful dismissal charges as a whole are a common claim that is taken by employees who feel their bosses failed to live up to a past agreement. They are usually worth looking into for fired employees.